GARDINER (AP) – An investigator for the Maine Board of Pharmacy testified at a hearing on the Penobscot Indians’ PIN Rx that a death in South Carolina may be linked to the defunct mail-order pharmacy.

Under questioning from board members, Tom Avery disclosed that he learned from a federal Drug Enforcement Administration source that a PIN Rx prescription bottle was found at the site of a death that’s under investigation, WMTW reported.

Anthony Pettigrew, a DEA spokesman, declined to discuss PIN Rx, saying the agency doesn’t comment on ongoing investigations.

The Board of Pharmacy is holding a hearing on the mail-order pharmacy, which is accused of filling more than 180,000 orders without verifying the prescriptions.

The hearing will determine whether disciplinary action is warranted for two pharmacists, Reggie Gracie Jr. and Susan Tringale. It’s unclear what penalty could be faced by PIN Rx, which was shut down earlier this year.

Neither PIN Rx nor its board is participating in the hearing, which began Monday. Penobscot Chief Kirk Francis, a board member, said it doesn’t make sense to defend a company whose license to do business no longer exists.

When PIN Rx opened in October 2005, state officials said the no-frills pharmacy would fill MaineCare prescriptions at less cost than a traditional pharmacy, saving the program for low-income Mainers an estimated $5 million each year.

But testimony on Tuesday underscored the financial problems that plagued PIN Rx from the moment it went into operation.

Robert Mongell, a consultant hired and later dismissed by PIN Rx, testified that he’d never seen a company lose money as fast as PIN Rx did.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Black said Monday the company was losing $100,000 a month.

Prosecutors say PIN Rx resorted to working with various Internet prescription-ordering centers to try to shore up its finances. PIN Rx is accused of illegally dispensing at least $3 million worth of drugs over at least nine months in 2006.

Avery that testified earlier that PIN Rx had to suspend its Internet sales after getting cut off by its drug wholesaler, who believed it was shipping drugs that were going through Internet facilitation centers.

One PIN Rx employee accepted more than $100,000 in kickbacks from an Internet facilitation centers, according to the state.

AP-ES-05-02-07 1617EDT

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